In general, a test handler is equipment allowing a tester to test semiconductor devices fabricated by a certain fabricating process, sorting the semiconductor devices according to the test result, and loading the semiconductor devices onto user trays. The test handler has been disclosed in many publication documents.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional test handler 100. The primary elements of the conventional test handler 100 will now be briefly described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional test handler 100 includes a loading apparatus 110, a soak chamber 120, a test chamber 130, a de-soak chamber 140, an unloading apparatus 150, two insert-opening apparatuses 160a and 160b, and two posture changing apparatuses 170a and 170b. Each element of the test handler 100 will be described in more detail below.
The loading apparatus 110 transfers and loads semiconductor devices loaded onto user trays 10a to a test tray 11a situated at a loading position.
The soak chamber 120 has a temperature environment for pre-heating/pre-cooling the semiconductor devices loaded on the test tray. The soak chamber 120 receives the test tray that is completed the loading of the semiconductor devices by the loading apparatus 110. When the test tray enters the soak chamber 120, it is translated closely to the test chamber 130, maintaining its vertical posture. For translation, the semi-conductor devices loaded on the test tray are sufficiently pre-heated/pre-cooled.
The test chamber 130 is installed to the test handler, in which a tester (not shown) tests the semiconductor devices loaded on two test trays 11b and 11c translated from the soak chamber 120. For this, the test chamber 130 has a temperature environment for testing the semiconductor devices.
The de-soak chamber 140 (or a ‘restoring chamber’) restores the heated or cooled semiconductor devices to a room temperature.
The unloading apparatus 150 sorts the semiconductor devices on the test tray outputted from the de-soak chamber 140, and transfers and unloads the semiconductor devices onto user trays 10b (an unloading step).
Here, the loading apparatus 110 or the unloading apparatus 150 includes at least one pick-and-place apparatus (not shown) for picking up and withdrawing the semiconductor devices loaded on the user tray or the test tray, and for supplying the semiconductor devices to the user tray or the test tray. For example, the pick-and-place apparatus picks up and withdraws the semiconductor devices from the user tray and then supplies them to the test tray in a loading operation. The pick-and-place apparatus picks up and withdraws the semiconductor devices from the test tray and then supplies them to a sorting table (not shown), or supplies them from the sorting table to the user tray, in an unloading operation.
The two insert-opening apparatuses 160a and 160b open inserts arranged in a matrix-form on the test trays 11a and 11b correspondingly situated above their upper sides, respectively, such that the loading apparatus 110 or unloading apparatus 150 can perform loading or unloading, respectively.
The posture changing apparatus 170a changes the horizontal posture of the test tray 11a, on which the semiconductor devices are loaded, into the vertical posture. The posture changing apparatus 170b changes the vertical posture of the test tray translated from the de-soak chamber 140 to the horizontal posture.
The following is a more detailed description of the posture changing of the test tray in the test handler 100.
Firstly, an empty test tray is situated at the underside of the loading apparatus 110, like a test tray 11a. After semiconductor devices are loaded on the empty test tray, the test tray is transferred to the posture changing apparatus 170a sited at the backside of the loading apparatus 110, and then posture-changed. Then, the test tray is transferred to the soak chamber 120. After that, the test tray is translated to the backside of the soak chamber 120 and then enters the test chamber 130. The test tray is horizontally transferred in two rows (or one row), upper and lower, in the test chamber 130. Here, the semiconductor devices on the test tray are tested by a tester (not shown) located at the middle portion of the test chamber 130. After being forwardly translated through the de-soak chamber 140, the test tray of the vertical posture is supplied to the posture changing apparatus 170b located at the backside of the unloading device 150. The posture changing apparatus 170b changes the vertical posture of the test tray to the horizontal posture. The horizontally posture-changed test tray is transferred to the unloading apparatus 150 to unload the semiconductor devices. After loading, the test tray is transferred below the loading apparatus 110. As such, the test tray performs the above-described procedure sequentially to test the semiconductor devices loaded thereon.
After loading the semiconductor devices onto the inserts arrayed in a matrix-form, the test tray is transferred, posture-changed, and tested. To achieve these operations, the inserts must have a mechanical configuration to stably receive the semiconductor devices. Such a configuration was already published in Korean Patent No. 10-0486412, entitled TEST TRAY INSERT OF TEST HANDLER and filed by the applicant of this application (hereinafter, referred to as a ‘cited application’). As disclosed in the cited application, the inserts are configured to include a housing for receiving the semiconductor devices, a pair of stoppers for opening the insert as the stoppers rotate to release the insert at both ends of the housing, and a pair of lockers elastically supported by compression springs for preventing rotation of the stoppers and linearly being movable. Therefore, as long as the lockers do not overcome the elastic forces of the compression springs and move linearly to release the stoppers, i.e., as long as the inserts are not opened, the semiconductor devices cannot be received by and separated from the housing.
However, when the loading apparatus 110 performs such a loading, the inserts must be opened to allow the housing to receive the semiconductor devices stably. Also, when the unloading apparatus 150 performs such an unloading, the insert must be opened to separate the semiconductor devices from the housing. Therefore, in order to open the inserts, the two insert-opening apparatuses 160a and 160b, each correspondingly located at the underside of the loading apparatus 110 and unloading apparatus 150, must operate the lockers to release the stoppers, in which the test trays 11a and 11d are each sited between the insert-opening apparatus 160a and the loading apparatus 110 and between the insert-opening apparatus 160b and the unloading apparatus 150.
FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a conventional insert-opening apparatus (160a or 160b).
The conventional insert-opening apparatus (160a or 160b) includes a base plate 161, a base cylinder 162 for linearly transferring the base plate 161 toward a test tray, and four opening units 163a, 163b, 163c and 163d which are mounted on the base plate 161 in a 2×2 matrix-form in the direction of the test tray. The four opening units 163a, 163b, 163c and 163d correspondingly include: plate openers 163a-1, 163b-1, 163c-1, and 163d-1, each of which occupies a quarter of the test tray and arrays a plurality of pairs of opening pins 163-1 in a 2×8 matrix form, which are integrally formed, in which the plate opener 163a-1, for example, opens the inserts in the quarter area allocated thereto simultaneously; and ascending/descending cylinders 163a-2 and 163c-2 for linearly transferring the plate openers 163a-1, 163b-1, 163c-1, and 163d-1 toward the test tray. Here, the plate openers are described as a ‘site decision unit’ in the cited application. On the other hand, FIG. 2 does not show ascending/descending cylinders for linearly transferring the plate openers 163b-1 and 163d-1.
The following is a description of operations of the conventional insert-opening apparatus 160a and 160b shown in FIG. 2.
Firstly, the base cylinder 162 transfers the base plate 161 closely to the test tray to secure a necessary distance for opening operations of the opening units 163a, 163b, 163c, and 163d. After that, any one of the four opening units 163a, 163b, 163c, and 163d, for example opening unit 163a, operates to open the inserts arrayed in the quarter area corresponding to the opening unit 163a. For example, when the ascending/descending cylinder 163a-2 transfers the plate opener 163a-1 toward the test tray, the pairs of opening pins 163-1 of the plate opener 163a-1 push and linearly transfer pairs of lockers mounted in each inserts to rotate pairs of stoppers, thereby opening the insert.
As such, each of the four opening units 163a, 163b, 163c, and 163d opens 16 inserts arrayed in ¼ area of the test tray, respectively, such that all inserts arrayed in all area of test tray can be opened. More specifically, the four opening units 163a, 163b, 163c, and 163d operate sequentially as follows: for example, the opening unit 163a opens the inserts arrayed in a quarter area of the test tray allocated thereto, and closes the inserts after the semiconductor devices are loaded in or separated from the opened inserts; and then, the opening unit 163b opens the inserts arrayed in another quarter area of the test tray allocated thereto, and so on.
As such, the opening units 163a, 163b, 163c, and 163d are sequentially operated so as not to apply a relatively large force to the test tray, which may cause the test tray to bend. More specifically, when the four opening units are operated simultaneously, a relatively large force may be applied to the test tray, and when such a large force-applying state is maintained for a long time, the test tray may bend. Meanwhile, a pick-and-place apparatus including the loading apparatus 110 and unloading apparatus 150 should be configured to be light for rapid processing and response speed. Thus, the pick-and-place apparatus is generally configured to pick up and transfer no more than 16 semiconductor devices. Therefore, since it is enough that the inserts are opened in concert with a one-time processing capacity of the pick-and-place apparatus, only the number of inserts corresponding to the one-time processing capacity is sequentially opened. Thus, the force applied to the test tray can be minimized to prevent the test tray from bending.
On the other hand, test handlers tend to be developed to test more number of semiconductor devices at one time. Presently, a test tray arraying 32 or 64 inserts is commonly used, but, recently, a large-sized test tray having 128 or 160 inserts has been developed and will be sold on the market.
However, due to a structural restriction, the pick-and-place apparatus still only has the capacity to test a maximum of 16 inserts. Therefore, in the case when a large-sized test tray is used, where 8 or 10 opening units should be installed, the production cost of the test handler would be increased.
Also, when the type of semiconductor devices to be tested is changed or a new type of tester is applied to the test handler, the test tray must be replaced. In this case, additional work should be done, such as adjusting the distance between a pair of opening pins. Therefore, all of the opening units, etc., should be replaced, respectively. When 8 or 10 opening units are installed on a large-sized test tray, such replacement work requires a lot of time and increased replacement costs, and causes a waste of resources.